How to Setup a Local Server on SQL Server

I installed SQL Server 2005 in my machine and tried to connect to my Local server.

But I am repeated encountering the following error while connecting to local server (MachineName\SQLEXPRESS).

Error:

error: 26 - Error Locating Server/Instance Specified

An error has occurred while establishing a connection to the server. When connecting to SQL Server 2005, this failure may be caused by the fact that under the default settings SQL Server does not allow remote connections. (provider: SQL Network Interfaces, error: 26 - Error Locating Server/Instance Specified

This type of error indicates that SQL Server is installed in your machine , But SQL Server is not running your machine.

How to check whether SQL Server is running on your local system?

Here are the steps to Check whether SQL Server is running in local system or not.

Go to Control Panel ---- > Administrative Tools --- >Services

If SQL Server is running on your system, the you should be able to find SQL Server (<Instance number> in Services.

If SQL Server is not found in Services , that indicates SQL Server is not running in your local system.
Resolution for this error would be to reinstall the SQL once again.